Too Shred or Not to Shred....

[Gearmond]

eh, i think you're overrating Mongrain's other stuff. its VERY candyrat, imo. or at least is a style of complex acoustic playing that i'm familiar with and have heard from MANY different people.

and imo most of the complexity of that style lies in the bass riff that they're made with, which repeats a few times, then a fill, then a repeat, then a transition to a new part, etc. etc. until you get to a bridge, and finish.

[RR Bigman]

Mongrain is small time. Michael Hedges is the best overly complicated acoustic guitarist.

[smile_man]

sam zurick

[D.o.S.]

Consider Matt Pike's style of soloing, which isn't really shredding, per se, but playing very fast and frenetically, in a chaotic manner.

I'd say Pike shreds. Same way Kerry King and Jeff Hanneman shred.

I think the easiest way to resolve this is as so:

Power Metal still sucks.

[Adoom]

Mongrain is small time. Michael Hedges is the best overly complicated acoustic guitarist.

Actually, Hedges did kill all.

It's more in the way Mongrain plays that I enjoy. He does the Don Ross thing in ways I've never heard done (A Ripple Effect), and consistently impresses me with the rhythmic stuff, and his music seems composed to be listened to rather than just to impress other guitar players. I get what you mean about the formula though. I noticed it myself.

I also like Maneli Jamal for a few of his things.

I hate the noise out of McKee, Don Ross and those guys. No heft to those songs. But hey, horses for courses.

[jfrey]

I hate the noise out of McKee, Don Ross and those guys. No heft to those songs.

Probably because a lot of their stuff sounds too happy.

I can barely listen to most happy sounding music anymore.

The guitarist in my last band was always saying I was fucked up in the head because to play a major scale I'd have to play the minor scale first and then move the 3rd, 6th, and 7th up.

[Gearmond]

lydian mode, bitches

[Adoom]

I hate the noise out of McKee, Don Ross and those guys. No heft to those songs.

Probably because a lot of their stuff sounds too happy.

I can barely listen to most happy sounding music anymore.

The guitarist in my last band was always saying I was fucked up in the head because to play a major scale I'd have to play the minor scale first and then move the 3rd, 6th, and 7th up.

Ha! Yes. Smiles are for losers.

Fuck that guy. I know a dude who keeps trying to get me to play his funk riffs. Or when I jam keeps saying "I don't want to play sad shit. Sad shit bums me out."I responded with "I don't want to play bouncy happy shit. It makes me feel like I'm playing lame music." For a while he was interested in playing with my band, but also has major problems venturing out of 4/4, not adhering to any strict time signature, and speeding up and slowing down with the group.

Since 3/3 or 3/4 (or six, or eight, of basically these numbers and combinations thereof) is my go to time signature, and I'm the kind of dude who keeps throwing relative minors over anything that sounds remotely happy to my ears... just. Just no in every possible way.

[RR Bigman]

I don't think I've ever written anything in a major key without forcing myself to. I don't necessarily have a problem with happy sounding music, it's just not in my DNA. Must be my turn of the century industrial surroundings. On a related note, there isn't much major key music out there today at all. Even pop music these days has a tendency towards minor keys.